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Published: 7 July, 2011
by ROISIN GADELRAB

LET the grass grow, bring out the sprinklers, Hyde Park can breathe easy, the festivals are over for another year.

Wireless brought 160,000 people to the park for three days of rock, rap, dance, dust and a plague of greenflies.

There were moments of euphoria (Pulp, David Guetta), mischief (The Streets) and disappointment (Black Eyed Peas, The Chemical Brothers).

Pulp were undoubtedly the finest show, Jarvis Cocker, in an anecdotal mood, played to his nostalgic crowd, coming on to a flurry of lights and streamers. The atmosphere was collegial, jovial and loved-up. Pulp stuck mainly to the hits, perhaps with the knowledge, as Jarvis joked, they may not return for 15 years.

There was no self-indulgence, the set wasn’t lazy and Jarvis kept up the wry banter. No one wants to leave a gig feeling like they’ve just listened to a CD and that is why Pulp are held in such esteem. Jarvis’s jerky dancing was as quirkily delightful as ever. Pulp left with a frenzied Common People (apt as onlookers sipped lattes), a hail of ticker tape and a sea of smiling faces.

Grace Jones seemed an odd support choice but worked. She exceeded expectations with outlandish costumes (bottom-baring leotard, frisbee-style headgear and huge ruffled wrap) and amazed with her ability to hula hoop through Slave to the Rhythm, not a step missed, a lyric stumbled over or an arm dropped. Unlike Beyonce at Glastonbury, no one helped as she gracelessly dismounted from the stage to meet the crowd, but the athletic singer continued unfazed. 

Earlier, The Pretty Reckless played a phenomenal set. So strong were they that plans to return to TV On The Radio were forgotten, having briefly seen the latter get lost to the main stage’s sonic black hole.

Those who can’t overlook Taylor Momsen’s Gossip Girl connections will have missed out on this talented singer in little more than a Metallica T-shirt dominating the stage with her monster voice and solid rock.

The Horrors, Metronomy and The Hives made the main stage work for them, the former more pleasing to the ear, the latter more entertaining, while pretty duo Big Deal were a gentle interlude but didn’t live up to their name.

Earlier in the weekend, the headliners fell down but their support acts succeeded by such great lengths that they proved just compensation. On Friday, David Guetta eclipsed Black Eyed Peas, more than doubling the second stage capacity as the Ibiza-style ravers spilled across the field. 

The main stage’s patchy sound works better for some bands than others. Black Eyed Peas’ pop beats sounded tinny and were not helped by the soundclash with Chipmunk’s big band set across the field.

You’d expect such a huge pop act to put on a big production, but not so. They sang a bit, and disappeared offstage a lot leaving little interim entertainment and a jarring lack of continuity. Then Will.I.Am, fitted with irritating autotune headset, returned with a DJ set, playing riffs from Nirvana, the Rolling Stones and Michael Jackson, lapped up by the mainly teen crowd, and the whole park was bouncing. But it felt lazy. The rest of the band came out for a few more songs and then it was over – underwhelming.

On Saturday the big winners were The Streets in one of their last sets before they disband, and Chase and Status, who brought on a number of special guests and stirred the crowd in time for the Chemical Brothers.

Anyone who’s seen The Streets will be familiar with Mike Skinner’s mischievous banter, which was on top form, causing chuckles with his cheeky suggest­ions. Earlier Janelle Monae and her mono­chrome entourage stunned with a stellar retro set and got everyone doing The Tightrope. Sadly, headliners the Chemical Brothers were functional but little more. Hardcore fans danced their hearts out but the big screens were turned off, the production was lack­ing and it was quest­ionable whether they even wanted to be there.